C is for "The Cotton Office in New Orleans"

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."  Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas lived in New Orleans  for five months where his family was in the  cotton brokerage business. Unfortunately, the business went bankrupt.  What is interesting is that Degas painted his brothers in this painting as if everything was fine  One brother Musson is examining cotton for its quality and another, Renee, is reading about the bankruptcy in The Picayane News.  Everyone seems quite calm.  Degas returned to Paris and exhibited "The Cotton Office" in the Second Impressionist Show in 1876, and two years later in 1878 he sold this painting to a museum in Paris, the Musee de Beaux, the only sale to a museum in his lifetime.  

The formality of the dress, hats, ties, white shirts, serious, stoic, a bit unflappable, but then if Degas were  painting this to sell, which he was, this is the way he would have painted it,  everything orderly and serious.

Looking at the painting, the composition, the colors, the contrast between black and white are perfect.  Notice the edge of painting on the right, instead of making the room continue, you don't see the rest of the hand or the desk.  Photography was an influence for Degas, as were Japanese prints which used unusual angles and unusual points of view.

The Cotton Office in New Orleans by Edgar Degas, 1873
Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola, N.Y.

B is for Ballet Rehearsal

"Ballet Rehearsal on the Stage."   1874.  Edgar Degas

Dover Publications, INC.  Minola. New York

Interesting to study this painting with its limited color palate, and the different actions of the dancers on stage.  Still, the tones of the painting are
lovely.  The foreground dancers are waiting in the wings, relaxing, while the others are dancing in front.  If you look carefully, there is a man watching from one of the lower boxes.  And I read that Degas reworked the dancers legs and you can see an outline of a foot in the left lower half.

So, why put the gentleman in the painting?  For intrigue, for a distant focus point or?  

Always, Degas had these unusual angles, not the conventional straight-on point of view, but I read that he was very interested in Japanese painting and that had given him the idea of the odd angle from which to sketch and paint his figures. More on Degas on the "D" day of the challenge.

2014 Blog Challenge+A is for Absinthe

        Dover  Publications, Inc. Mineola, New York.

Absinthe, Oil on Canvas, 1876

Edgar Degas

French Artist, Edgar Degas (1834-1917), said that "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."

When looking at the painting, this is what I saw.  Others, especially from that time period saw something entirely different.

She looks unhappy, sitting with her husband, her drink before her.  Notice that her drink is cloudy which identifies it as absinthe. Such a sad face Degas painted.  Her husband is paying no attention to her as he watches others around the room. Degas painted her so delicately, while the husband is roughly put together, hat askew, untied tie, hair not combed.  Perhaps he just slammed his hat on his head while she begged to go out.

This is my version of the painting.  In reality, the models were Ellen Andree, an actress, and Marcellin Desboutin, a painter and print-maker.  Edgar Degas sketched his ideas while viewing his subjects, but finished his paintings in his studio.

When this painting was first exhibited, it was called ugly, disgusting, and the persons depicted to be degraded and uncouth.  Degas even had to publicly state that the two models were not alcoholics as this was also a criticism.  Social conflict, public morals, so many different views of what the painter had in mind, when in reality perhaps,  the two models had interesting faces and Degas chose to paint them in a cafe setting.

Absinthe, a dark green liquor, originally was made from worm-wood, herbs and spices.  In a stylized ceremony, water is added drop by drop through a sugar cube which is suspended on a slotted spoon.  It was called "The Green Fairy" as some of the ingredients caused hallucinations in the past.   You can purchase it in specialized liquor stores and order Absinthe in some restaurants and bars.  

What do you see in this painting?